Re: RCA 5KW AM Broadcast Transmitter

Paul Vanasse wrote:
> 
> OK Mike answer this: What is just one new Eimac 5762 worth? You yourself
> stated that they are impossible to rebuild. By your comments one would be
> worth about $25. (Your original $250 transmitter value x 10%+/- of the
> total).

   Look it up for yourself: Richardson Electronics. http://www.rell.com/

   To me, they are worthless. I don't need any and they are still
available, so why would I want to keep them sitting on a shelf? I still
have thousands of dollars worth of parts that were bought for spares,
and never used. I was hauling them to hamfests to sell, but it wasn't
worth the return on the time and money to load a truck and trailer,
drive half a day, pay to set up, and barely break even. 

> After reading your entire rant which didn't contain an ounce of logical
> rebuttal, it sounds like you haven't been familiar with any of these prices
> for the past 15 years. Knowing this, how do you have the nads to profess
> that I'm the one who's insane?


  The last new final tube I know of for the RCA TTU-25B sold for $35,000
because it WAS the LAST tube.

> 
> Duh, it's called the collectors market! If you actually understood how
> incredibly dense your above comment is/was, it would be a miracle. Like most
> hams, your the type of guy that talks everyone else's price down until the
> day you decide to sell a piece of scrap iron. Then the hunk of junk is worth
> market times 10 because it was supposedly used by Lucrecia Borgia.

   So, a couple transmitters sell at a inflated price.  there aren't
many collectors, and before long, any remaining equipment is scrapped
because the collectors have theirs, and no one else needs more junk. 
The only broadcast transmitters I consider collectable are unique ones
like the 500 KW 700 KHz WLW transmitter in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jim Hawkins
has some decent pictures of it, but it is more impressive, in person.
http://hawkins.pair.com/wlw.shtml

   The only other transmitter I though of as a collectable were the
Crosley transmitters used by VOA Bethany into the late '60s. The only
ones built were at that site, and they were real workhorses. Their
downfall was that there was no television in when they were built, and
the VOA finally gave up and replaced them with National transmitters
that were custom built with TVI in mind. I toured the facility during
the change out and asked about the old transmitters. They told our group
that the contractor was scrapping them for salvage. If you wanted to see
"Museum quality" these were.  they looked brand new, with a beautiful
metallic green paint, and not one visible scratch, or mark in the
finish.  the insides were spotless, and these were used daily, 24/7 and
were only down to change frequency, or for maintenance. I wanted some
pictures, but we were not allowed to take cameras into a government
compound. The MPs at the gate warned us to lock them in the van, then
check to make sure no one was trying to slip one inside.

   I am not a Amateur radio operator. I don't like Morse code, but I
enjoyed building transmitters and receivers. After listening to the 80
and 40 meter ham bands for a while I decided there were too many idiots
bragging about their expensive rig, and throwing around insults to the
"Poor people who couldn't afford Drake, or Collins" that I went into
Broadcast, CATV headend and system design, and electronics
manufacturing.

   I would rather be around people who know what they were talking
about, than someone bragging about the way they screwed someone at a
hamfest, or that they were running over the legal limit. I used to
repair ham equipment as a sideline, till I got tired of the cheapskates
who wanted me to work for free, and to sell parts for less than I had to
pay for them.

   They wanted to give you $10 to fix the mess they made when they tried
to "tweak" a radio and damaged a dozen slugs so bad the coil forms
split. Or a they want me to fix a Heathkit SB220 they built with acid
core solder, then watched as the electrolytics they installed backwards
vented and filled the cabinet with the aluminum, paper and electrolyte. 
I would count the knowledgeable amateurs I have met at less than 25, but
the bad ones number well into the hundreds. 

   The last company I worked for built the broadband communications
equipment that is a permanent part of the ISS. I worked on most of the
system, making sure that NASA's requested modifications were done,
including finding components to comply with their requirement of no
lithium batteries in equipment ordered for the space station. I worked
on $80,000 telemetry systems, and the equipment NOAA ordered to replace
their old Harris receivers and control system. Amateur radio did not
offer any challenge on this level.

> BTW, we have a winner. The unit and parts are SOLD. I wont make you gag by
> stating the final price.

   I really don't care what you got for it.  You got rid of it, someone
bought it. Its gone, forget it. you won't get the same for another, so
its immaterial
-- 


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida